Recommended Reading
Studying a living tradition of reflection and wisdom
Wherever you are in your knowledge of the Catholic intellectual tradition, this recommended reading list serves as a resource for your continued learning.
This list includes key works of Aristotle, Aquinas, and the Thomistic tradition and was curated by the founding director of the Thomistic Institute, Fr. Thomas Joseph White, O.P., and current director, Fr. Ambrose Little, O.P.
Reading List
Key works of Aristotle:
- Categories
- De Interpretatione
- Posterior Analytics
- Physics
- De Anima
- Metaphysics (esp. Books I, II, IV, VII-IX, XI, XII)
- Nicomachean Ethics
Key works of Aquinas:
- De Ente et Essentia
- Commentary on Boethius’ De Trinitate
- Summa Contra Gentiles
- De Potentia Dei, q. 7
- Disputed Questions on the Soul
- Summa Theologiae
- Commentary on the Gospel of St. John
Moderns:
- Fr. Stephen Brock, The Philosophy of St. Thomas Aquinas: A Sketch
- Edward Feser, Aquinas and Introduction to Scholastic Metaphysics
- Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange, OP Reality and Grace (all chapters available on EWTN’s website)
- Lawrence Dewan, OP Form and Being
- Étienne Gilson, Thomism: The Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas, 5th edition (1948 edition)
- Benedict Ashley, OP The Way toward Wisdom
- John Wippel, The Metaphysical Thought of Thomas Aquinas
- Gilles Emery, OP The Trinitarian Theology of Thomas Aquinas
- Jean-Pierre Torrell, OP St. Thomas Aquinas, Vol. 2: Spiritual Master, Encyclopédie Jésus le Christ chez saint Thomas d'Aquin , and Le Christ en ses mystères: La vie et l'oeuvre de Jésus selon saint Thomas d'Aquin (two volumes)
- Steven Jensen, Knowing the Natural Law: From Precepts and Inclinations to Deriving Oughts
- Servais-Théodore Pinckaers, OP The Sources of Christian Ethics
- Lawrence Feingold, St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Desire to See God
- Steven Long, The Teleological Grammar of the Moral Act
- Alasdair MacIntyre, Three Rival Versions of Moral Inquiry
- Thomas Joseph White, OP The Incarnate Lord
- Jean-Hervé Nicolas, OP Synthèse dogmatique
- Charles Cardinal Journet, L'Eglise du Verbe incarné (several volumes, masterpiece of Thomist ecclesiology—here's volume one ) and The Mass: The Presence of the Sacrifice of the Cross
- Benoît-Dominique de La Soujeole, OP Introduction to the Mystery of the Church
- Colman O’Neill, OP: Several helpful works on Aquinas’ sacramental theology
Journals:
